Flip through any dictionary today, and whether it’s an Oxford or a Mirriam-Webster, if you look under the definition of utilitarian, I’m sure that you’ll find Land Rover listed there.

Now that I’ve got that overused cliché out of the way, it’s time to question why people associate Land Rover with these rugged connotations. I had never been in a Land Rover vehicle, but had heard and read no end of praise about the British brand.

If you’ve been around car enthusiasts in the last couple years, you’ve probably heard that Porsche has been in the limelight for a while. They may keep releasing twin-turbo track monsters like the GT2RS, but the real attention has been around the aircooled cars. As prices go skyward and more and more people open their eyes to the rich motorsport heritage that the Stuttgart crest is famous for, it seems as if Porsche can do no wrong.

The BMW M3 needs no introduction. We’ve talked at length about the hallowed lineage of BMW’s most focused precision corner-hunter in nothing but words of praise.

From the DTM homologation special E30, to the screaming-V8 E92, BMW’s M Gmbh has been getting it right for decades. Purists argue that might have come to an end with the current generation – the F30 – due to its forced induction.

They say every human interaction that we have, shapes us in some way or another. While this discussion may seem strange outside of a philosophy classroom, it does have some bearing on our passion for these machines that we love.

So, why did I start on such a philosophical note? For one simple reason, it happened to me.

We go back to the last decade of the 20th Century in a quick Italian hatchback…

The ‘90s was an interesting decade. Keeping aside the now questionable fashion choices that people made, it was the last decade of the 20th century and this meant that it was beginning of the end of an era. Analog cars could still be had, most people were still driving stick and car manufacturers were still relatively conservative when it came to car design.

It’s almost noon on the last day of the year and as I write this, I’m slightly incredulous as to how fast the last 365 days have flown by. Looking back, it’s been a fantastic year for cars, not so much for natural disasters, politics and all the other stuff that keeps you glued to the CNN and BBC push notifications on your smartphone. Since it’s the end of the year, we won’t concern ourselves with those things, instead let’s focus on the machines that tug at our heartstrings.

We make the drive down to Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi, to take in a good day of motorsport.

It’s been months since we’ve been to any motorsport event, with our last outing to Road America for the SVRA Racing weekend in May.

However, there is something incredibly infectious about the sound of high performance engines and hard downshifts, accompanied by the sight of colorful liveries and dollops of carbonfibre, being piloted at breakneck speeds by very brave human beings. The net result: I was itching for a dose of motorsport. The category did not matter, all I wanted to see was a race.

It’s been a while since we featured a car properly here on the Bandit. A spate of events, both back in SoCal and in Dubai have kept us on our toes, capturing the car culture that brings us together as enthusiasts.

This means, however, that the chance to properly understand one car was one we were looking forward to. To that end, we set out to remedy the situation.

We’re back in Dubai and less than 24 hours after hitting home soil, we’re at a car event – the 2017 Gulf Concours no less!

Precisely 48 hours earlier, I had been enjoying a sumptuous brunch with friends at Newcombs Ranch, nestled into the woody mountainside that comprises Angeles Crest Highway. Now, I was standing on a well-manicured lawn, halfway around the world. Say what?